Visa

What A Wonderful World: Visa Set To Use "Go World" Campaign Globally For London Games

Published May 7, 2012

Visa is not changing its playbook for the London Games, but the company, which today unveils its advertising plans, is adding a few twists to its sepia-toned “Go World” spots. The company will take the tagline, look and feel of the campaign, which was first used in the U.S. in '08, to more than 70 markets worldwide, making it the first time it has ever used a single theme globally for the Summer Olympics. But the biggest change to the campaign from prior Olympics will be the incorporation of social and digital elements. Visa is encouraging fans to cheer on its 60-sponsored athletes like U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps and gymnast Nastia Liukin by submitting digital “cheers” through clicks, posts, photos and video submissions on Visa’s Facebook page. Creative and supportive cheers from U.S. consumers will be featured in congratulatory ads for medal-winning athletes during the Summer Games. Visa Head of North America Marketing Alex Craddock said, “We call it moving at the speed of culture. We’ve done congratulatory ads in the past. For London, we wanted to move it to another level and integrate these cheers from fans so it’s not just an athlete got a medal, good for you.” Craddock said that Visa wanted to tap into fans’ passion for the Olympics and incorporate that passion into its own marketing. Bank of America undertook a similar effort in '08 when it asked Americans to post cheers for Olympians on YouTube as part of its “America’s Cheer” program for the Beijing Games. Craddock said, “We wanted this campaign to be social to the core. We had ‘Go World’ but we asked, ‘How do we make that an inherently social program?’ We decided, ‘Let’s give fans an environment on Facebook where they can cheer for the athletes.’” Visa has bought digital advertising with NBCOlympics.com, Yahoo and SI that allows fans to submit cheers for Team Visa athletes by clicking a “cheer” button.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: The first in a series of Visa’s sepia-toned “Go World” commercials will debut in the U.S. tonight during NBC’s “The Voice.” The spot, titled “The Difference,” features actor Morgan Freeman talking about some of the most dramatic moments in Olympic history such as Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci’s perfect 10 in '76 and Michael Phelps’ 100-meter butterfly win in '08. The emphasis in the spot is on how fans’ support helped make those moments of triumph possible. Craddock said that Visa did not consider adopting a new tagline for the London Games. He added, “’Go World’ worked so well for us on brand and business (in Beijing and Vancouver). We tracked its performance (in Beijing) and performance in Vancouver. We were getting a tremendous return on investment. We wanted to keep it for London and also evolve it.” Similar “Go World” messages will be relayed in other languages worldwide. Visa will have commercials and training videos of its athletes on Facebook and Youtube, where visitors can see Phelps, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbaeva, Chinese tennis player Li Na and others. Visa worked with TBWA to develop the “Go World” spots, BBDO Proximity for its digital marketing efforts, and OMD for media buying (Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal).

PUT A CHARGE INTO IT: In N.Y., Stuart Elliott cites execs as saying that Visa’s Summer Games campaign will be “the largest in the 25 years it has been an Olympic sponsor” and will involve “more than 70 countries, compared with about 45” for the ’08 Games in Athens. Social media sites "are playing far larger roles” in the campaign than they did for Visa's campaigns for the Beijing or Vancouver Games. Visa CMO Antonio Lucio said, “It will be more social than ever before. At the core of the idea is consumer participation.” Lucio added, “People’s cheers fuel athletes’ performance” (N.Y. TIMES, 5/7).